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Study tips from a previous Leaving Cert student
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04-01-2013 6:45pm#1Hi, I'm currently in college and sat my LC last year.
I just responded to someones thread about studying, and thought it might be useful to post what tips I came up with somewhere else, for everyone to see.
Maybe some other past students could post their own too.
Remember, these are just what worked for me, and everyone is different, but hopefully they might help some of you out.
Try and do all or most of your study in the same place. If you change study areas too much then you'll keep finding distractions, but if you keep to the same place eventually there'll be nothing new and you can focus better.
Recite your notes aloud. You learn better from your own voice. Sometimes recording yourself and putting it on your ipod or something can help too.
Saying things 3 times help it go into your long term memory.
Write out your own written notes, it's easier to learn from your own handwriting, and it helps exclude any irrelevant information.
Writing things out over and over usually helps too.
Don;t listen to music while you study. If you do, on the day of the exam any little noise will try and distract you. I'm actually studying Psychology in College now and we learned about mood congruency and memory. You're more likely to remember something on the day if you're in the same mood you were in when you learned it. Similar principle to the music thing.
I found flashcards very helpful for me. I created a rough, non-detailed summary of whatever topic it was. The morning and nights before exams I usually just flipped through them. I only had key words written on them so it helped jog my memory as to what else I had to remember. I would suggest this method, but it's not all that useful until really close to exam time.
Even if you don't do flashcards, break everything down into bullet points. Learning blocks of text is not easy.
Timetables for me don't work. I made so many and when I didn't stick to them I got really anxious and worried about not getting everything done. I just had a rough idea of what I wanted to get done, that I made the morning of study. Say 3 topics of Biology and 2 English or something like that.
I also liked to spend longer at fewer subjects than say one hour of each subject per day.
When you're doing more than one subject a day make sure they're not too similar. For example, don;t do French and Italian on the same day. Maybe Chemistry and Business.
When bullet pointing topics use numbers, not just points. It's easier to remember a topic if you think of how many key points you have to remember. Like, when you remember point 1 it leads you to remember point 2 and so on.
Colour coding points is useful, I still do this now for my college notes. I used yellow highlighter for the key points, orange for extra material that could be used, and pink for examples. When you're trying to think of something in an exam it can often work to think of what colour it was, and that should help jog your memory. Before you think that that would be your entire sample answer or whatever highlighted I dont mean like that. Similar to the flashcards key words thing. You would highlight the key word in the key point yellow, which helps you remember the entire point. I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself right here. haha
It sounds cliche but most important thing is not let the occassion get to you. Relax.17
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internet_user wrote: »would you rank re-writing/breaking down notes ahead of doing exam questions?
They're both really important. At the end of the day, you're learning all this info for an exam.
But, you need to know the info. at the same time.
They're both as important as eachother, but I'd focus on knowing the info first and then moving on to applying it to exam questions.
But thats just my opinion. 0 -
I'd hate to be annoying but like do you have an example of a flashcard? I'm curious about using that methodHi, I'm currently in college and sat my LC last year.
I just responded to someones thread about studying, and thought it might be useful to post what tips I came up with somewhere else, for everyone to see.
Maybe some other past students could post their own too.
Remember, these are just what worked for me, and everyone is different, but hopefully they might help some of you out.
Try and do all or most of your study in the same place. If you change study areas too much then you'll keep finding distractions, but if you keep to the same place eventually there'll be nothing new and you can focus better.
Recite your notes aloud. You learn better from your own voice. Sometimes recording yourself and putting it on your ipod or something can help too.
Saying things 3 times help it go into your long term memory.
Write out your own written notes, it's easier to learn from your own handwriting, and it helps exclude any irrelevant information.
Writing things out over and over usually helps too.
Don;t listen to music while you study. If you do, on the day of the exam any little noise will try and distract you. I'm actually studying Psychology in College now and we learned about mood congruency and memory. You're more likely to remember something on the day if you're in the same mood you were in when you learned it. Similar principle to the music thing.
I found flashcards very helpful for me. I created a rough, non-detailed summary of whatever topic it was. The morning and nights before exams I usually just flipped through them. I only had key words written on them so it helped jog my memory as to what else I had to remember. I would suggest this method, but it's not all that useful until really close to exam time.
Even if you don't do flashcards, break everything done into bullet points. Learning blocks of text is not easy.
Timetables for me don't work. I made so many and when I didn't stick to them I got really anxious and worried about not getting everything done. I just had a rough idea of what I wanted to get done, that I made the morning of study. Say 3 topics of Biology and 2 English or something like that.
I also liked to spend longer at fewer subjects than say one hour of each subject per day.
When you're doing more than one subject a day make sure they're not too similar. For example, don;t do French and Italian on the same day. Maybe Chemistry and Business.
It sounds cliche but most important thing is not let the occassion get to you. Relax. 0 -
I'd hate to be annoying but like do you have an example of a flashcard? I'm curious about using that method
I'm actually going to my dads later where all my LC stuff is so I can find one and post up whats written on it.
But it's nothing difficult. It's just bullet pointing the main points in a given topic so to jog your memory. 0 -
That's probably the best advice I've ever read! Thank you!Hi, I'm currently in college and sat my LC last year.
I just responded to someones thread about studying, and thought it might be useful to post what tips I came up with somewhere else, for everyone to see.
Maybe some other past students could post their own too.
Remember, these are just what worked for me, and everyone is different, but hopefully they might help some of you out.
Try and do all or most of your study in the same place. If you change study areas too much then you'll keep finding distractions, but if you keep to the same place eventually there'll be nothing new and you can focus better.
Recite your notes aloud. You learn better from your own voice. Sometimes recording yourself and putting it on your ipod or something can help too.
Saying things 3 times help it go into your long term memory.
Write out your own written notes, it's easier to learn from your own handwriting, and it helps exclude any irrelevant information.
Writing things out over and over usually helps too.
Don;t listen to music while you study. If you do, on the day of the exam any little noise will try and distract you. I'm actually studying Psychology in College now and we learned about mood congruency and memory. You're more likely to remember something on the day if you're in the same mood you were in when you learned it. Similar principle to the music thing.
I found flashcards very helpful for me. I created a rough, non-detailed summary of whatever topic it was. The morning and nights before exams I usually just flipped through them. I only had key words written on them so it helped jog my memory as to what else I had to remember. I would suggest this method, but it's not all that useful until really close to exam time.
Even if you don't do flashcards, break everything down into bullet points. Learning blocks of text is not easy.
Timetables for me don't work. I made so many and when I didn't stick to them I got really anxious and worried about not getting everything done. I just had a rough idea of what I wanted to get done, that I made the morning of study. Say 3 topics of Biology and 2 English or something like that.
I also liked to spend longer at fewer subjects than say one hour of each subject per day.
When you're doing more than one subject a day make sure they're not too similar. For example, don;t do French and Italian on the same day. Maybe Chemistry and Business.
When bullet pointing topics use numbers, not just points. It's easier to remember a topic if you think of how many key points you have to remember. Like, when you remember point 1 it leads you to remember point 2 and so on.
Colour coding points is useful, I still do this now for my college notes. I used yellow highlighter for the key points, orange for extra material that could be used, and pink for examples. When you're trying to think of something in an exam it can often work to think of what colour it was, and that should help jog your memory. Before you think that that would be your entire sample answer or whatever highlighted I dont mean like that. Similar to the flashcards key words thing. You would highlight the key word in the key point yellow, which helps you remember the entire point. I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself right here. haha
It sounds cliche but most important thing is not let the occassion get to you. Relax.
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11Charlie11 wrote: »That's probably the best advice I've ever read! Thank you!
You're welcome., and good luck 0 -
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LostBoy101 wrote: »What do you think of mind maps?
Don't really know what they are or how they work at all, sorry 0 -
Hi, I'm currently in college and sat my LC last year.
I just responded to someones thread about studying, and thought it might be useful to post what tips I came up with somewhere else, for everyone to see.
Maybe some other past students could post their own too.
Remember, these are just what worked for me, and everyone is different, but hopefully they might help some of you out.
Try and do all or most of your study in the same place. If you change study areas too much then you'll keep finding distractions, but if you keep to the same place eventually there'll be nothing new and you can focus better.
Recite your notes aloud. You learn better from your own voice. Sometimes recording yourself and putting it on your ipod or something can help too.
Saying things 3 times help it go into your long term memory.
Write out your own written notes, it's easier to learn from your own handwriting, and it helps exclude any irrelevant information.
Writing things out over and over usually helps too.
Don;t listen to music while you study. If you do, on the day of the exam any little noise will try and distract you. I'm actually studying Psychology in College now and we learned about mood congruency and memory. You're more likely to remember something on the day if you're in the same mood you were in when you learned it. Similar principle to the music thing.
I found flashcards very helpful for me. I created a rough, non-detailed summary of whatever topic it was. The morning and nights before exams I usually just flipped through them. I only had key words written on them so it helped jog my memory as to what else I had to remember. I would suggest this method, but it's not all that useful until really close to exam time.
Even if you don't do flashcards, break everything down into bullet points. Learning blocks of text is not easy.
Timetables for me don't work. I made so many and when I didn't stick to them I got really anxious and worried about not getting everything done. I just had a rough idea of what I wanted to get done, that I made the morning of study. Say 3 topics of Biology and 2 English or something like that.
I also liked to spend longer at fewer subjects than say one hour of each subject per day.
When you're doing more than one subject a day make sure they're not too similar. For example, don;t do French and Italian on the same day. Maybe Chemistry and Business.
When bullet pointing topics use numbers, not just points. It's easier to remember a topic if you think of how many key points you have to remember. Like, when you remember point 1 it leads you to remember point 2 and so on.
Colour coding points is useful, I still do this now for my college notes. I used yellow highlighter for the key points, orange for extra material that could be used, and pink for examples. When you're trying to think of something in an exam it can often work to think of what colour it was, and that should help jog your memory. Before you think that that would be your entire sample answer or whatever highlighted I dont mean like that. Similar to the flashcards key words thing. You would highlight the key word in the key point yellow, which helps you remember the entire point. I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself right here. haha
It sounds cliche but most important thing is not let the occassion get to you. Relax.
Thanks for the great tips but im just wondering for english and maths...What way did you study them?
My mocks are only 2 weeks away
I still haven't touched those subjects.
And im reallly curious on how many points you got..
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Thanks for the great tips but im just wondering for english and maths...What way did you study them?
My mocks are only 2 weeks away I still haven't touched those subjects.
And im reallly curious on how many points you got..
Those two are tricky to study.
For English I think layout and structure are really important. Don't waste your time learning off sample answers, just have a general guideline for answering Qs. For example, for each poet I studied I learned off an intro and an outro that could always be used. Ending with a quote from the poets life or other work is good for emphasis.
Don't take paper 1 for granted, comprehensions are worth a lot of marks.
I hated comparative, so I came up with one good answer that I could work around most situations. The question on the day didnt suit it that well, but I still got 68/70 because of my structure are layout. Link words are everything. Especially for comparative but also for general structure of other answers.
Unfortunately English for the LC isn't all about creativity and fancy vocab. It's about being extracting as many marks as possible. Have a look at the marking schemes.
Key Notes English revision book is excellent.
For Maths I think just do question upon question upon question. I did OL so I didn't put much work into it at all. Most thing I focused on was the timing of questions and constructions and theorems of paper 2.
If you get bogged down on a part, don't spend all your time on it. Limit yourself.
Also for OL, remember part As and Bs (the easiest parts) are worth the most. So once again if you get stuck on a part C (more difficult part) dont worry, just move on.
But always attempt to write down something. Attempt marks can be given. And write out any formulas you may use. Some examiners give marks for them.
EDIT: Sorry I didn't see this originally .. I got 510 points.
Oh, and I wouldn't worry about the mocks. I only starteed studying in general a week before my mocks. The idea is that mocks give you a good idea of where your headed for the actual LC, but they dont. Dont get worried about them.0 -
I really appreciate your help alot!
Oh and the next question might seem a bit weird.. But on a daily basis, how long do you do your revision and your hw? I get loads of homework for each subject and at the end of the day, i only have little time to do my proper revsion.. 0 -
I really appreciate your help alot!
Oh and the next question might seem a bit weird.. But on a daily basis, how long do you do your revision and your hw? I get loads of homework for each subject and at the end of the day, i only have little time to do my proper revsion..
Its no problem at all
I never really had a set time.
I think the main thing is not to see your homework and revision as two seperate things. Your homework is your revision. If doing biology questions for example, dont copy straight from your notes. Whatever topic your homework question is on, learn that topic then answer the question. Killing two birds with one stone.
That being said, sometimes teachers give obscene homework that is just irrelevant and useless. I just stopped doing it halfway through the year. What are they gonna do about it? If you're using that extra time to study, and so doing well in their class, there's not much they can do.0 -
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Learn off general phrases that can be used in any answer, for French anyways. Like you know you'll be able to fit the sentence "Il faut lutter contre ce grand problème avant qu'il ne soit trop tard - It's necessary to fight against this big problem before it is too late". I also found sayings fairly useful, such as this one : "Tout ce qui brille, n'est pas or - Everything that glistens isn't gold" or "Qui va lentement, va sûrement - Slowly, but surely". If you search boards for French advice for leaving cert you'll find great tips and also many sentences/phrases which you can use.
Good advice, thanks a mil! 0 -
Good advice, thanks a mil!Learn off general phrases that can be used in any answer, for French anyways. Like you know you'll be able to fit the sentence "Il faut lutter contre ce grand problème avant qu'il ne soit trop tard - It's necessary to fight against this big problem before it is too late". I also found sayings fairly useful, such as this one : "Tout ce qui brille, n'est pas or - Everything that glistens isn't gold" or "Qui va lentement, va sûrement - Slowly, but surely". If you search boards for French advice for leaving cert you'll find great tips and also many sentences/phrases which you can use.
Yes, I agree with this!
Subjects like Irish, English and French are all about structure, layout and general phrases.
For the french 'essays' I learned a few phrases that could always be used at the start and ending of an answer, along with a few french sayings and leading words, such as 'aussi' and what not. Then, for the few specific topics I did study beforehand, which wasn't many because I was confident in the structure I had learnt, I learnt off some facts and statistics.
For Irish it is much the same, even more so. I honestly didn't learn off one essay before my exam. Again, know general, interchangable phrases that you can use throughout your essay, with some seanfhocails and nathanna cainte too. Again one or two specific facts or figures on a few topics wouldn't go astray either.
For English this technique is also useful. For example, for each poet I studied I had an opening paragraph and a closing paragraph that I would use no matter what question came up. The opening paragraph usually introduced my thoughts some background on the poet, my thoughts on the poet and stated the poems I would be discussing. The closing paragraph should be seen as a reflection of the opening paragraph, summing up what you had said you would discuss. I also found a memorable quote from each of my poets and ended each answer with that, for impact.
Hope this helps, it's been a while now since I've had to even think about the Leaving Cert. 0 -
Yes, I agree with this!
Subjects like Irish, English and French are all about structure, layout and general phrases.
For the french 'essays' I learned a few phrases that could always be used at the start and ending of an answer, along with a few french sayings and leading words, such as 'aussi' and what not. Then, for the few specific topics I did study beforehand, which wasn't many because I was confident in the structure I had learnt, I learnt off some facts and statistics.
For Irish it is much the same, even more so. I honestly didn't learn off one essay before my exam. Again, know general, interchangable phrases that you can use throughout your essay, with some seanfhocails and nathanna cainte too. Again one or two specific facts or figures on a few topics wouldn't go astray either.
For English this technique is also useful. For example, for each poet I studied I had an opening paragraph and a closing paragraph that I would use no matter what question came up. The opening paragraph usually introduced my thoughts some background on the poet, my thoughts on the poet and stated the poems I would be discussing. The closing paragraph should be seen as a reflection of the opening paragraph, summing up what you had said you would discuss. I also found a memorable quote from each of my poets and ended each answer with that, for impact.
Hope this helps, it's been a while now since I've had to even think about the Leaving Cert.
Thank you! 0 -
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